October 23, 2008

Annapolis to Beaufort, NC
We anchor at Rhode River, than Solomons Islands with it’s charming Marine Museum, Mill Creek, and than spent three days at marina in Norfolk – laundry, clean-up, gathering supplies and for us a treat – hot shower! Mile 0 of Intercoastal Waterway (some 1 000 miles long) finds us waiting for opening of the first of it’s many bridges at its first opening of the day after the rush hour, exactly at 8:30 a.m. 60 miles a day, starting at sunrise and ending the long days at sunset. We are part of snowbirds parade heading south, motor boats, sailboats; one after each other, the Intercoastal is quite busy at this time of year. We get interrupted by a cold front, hot summer days changed overnight to almost winter, with rain, cold and gale winds of up to 40 knots, but at anchor behind Buck Island, Nikan is safe and warm, stove working and we rest, read, sleep. Nothing to complain about. And than some more of the same schedule, till Beaufort, our last stop before heading to sea - direction Bahamas, if a weather window permits.

October 3, 2008

Annapolis, MD
We explore this charming, little town, calling itself “America’s Sailing Capital”, in full preparation for the nation’s oldest and largest in-water boat show. While on mooring, one dark, early morning J-P jumps in full preparation to confront thieves that are after our dingy – but what he confronts is a dingy full of ducks! You see ducks everywhere, trying to climb on anything dry, having their natural environment taken away by greedy boaters - there isn’t a piece of land within sight that hasn’t been taken over by some marina. The amount of boats around here is quite overwhelming!

September 26, 2008

Baltimore, MD

After a day of rest and swimming in Bohemia River we tied up in Baltimore. Once again I walked J-P to exhaustion (which put him in a very, very bad mood the next day) to whip him back in shape. Looks like older women have much more stamina! We like Baltimore a lot, old pirates' quarters as well as architecture of today. We are forced to stay here longer than planned, through rain and gale strong wind, safely tied in marina. We don't mind, we know how to pass the time in a big city - there is no shortage of entertainment. This is one city really geared towards tourism!

September 17, 2008

Cape May, NJ
Time certainly flies when you are enjoying yourself. Our legs, so much stronger from all the walk in NY, are being used once again for the bike ride around Cape May, where we arrived after an uneventful 24-hr crossing from Sandy Hook. We made some good friends with “Chenou” sailboat and we are planning to continue with them through Delaware and will take some time for cruising Chesapeake Bay. J-P is anxious to visit one of the biggest boat shows in Annapolis, but for today it’s groceries, although we feel a bit wasted after a huge lobster dinner last night at the local dinner “Lobster House”.

September 9, 2008

Port Washington, Long Island
6 A.M. (time reminds me of my working days...) and we are on the way to NY…New York, New York…we will have to take the train from Long Island and visit you tomorrow! We are attached to a mooring, courtesy of Port Washington. First it’s groceries, than... New York, New York…..

September 7, 2008

West Haverstraw, NY
Hanna…Hanna is coming, Hanna…the tropical storm Hanna…the warning for the past few days of high winds and flooding (not that we care about that!) makes us seek a shelter in Haverstraw Marina, one of the last few marinas before New York. The air is saturated with water, the sky covered and grey, the barometer drops 13 mb in as many hours, but the true fury of the storm passes east of us and we just listen to the progress of the storm on the VHF radio. We take an advantage of the laundry machines in the marina and this morning the air is crisp, humidity that tortured us for the past week gone and the evening finds us anchored just before the Tappan Zee Bridge.

September 1, 2008

Waterford, USA
We passed through the Champlain Canal, 12 locks in total, in 2 days. The weather is great, more than great, it's hot and no rain at all. We are in Waterford, tied next to several boats, all heading south. Try to buy here small quantity of fruit or vegetable, everything comes in huge amount and is more expensive than in Montreal. Junk food is cheap and comes in huge quantity as well! American flags on almost every house or just stuck in the flower beds or gardens. Very patriotic people here!